Gunning For Me
by Mourneloupe
Summary: With all sides closing in on them, the world is about to plummet. what can Kaoru Kamiya hope to accomplish when her only talents lie in her psychic power of destruction, and who the hell isBattousai who seems dead set on annoying the hell out of her?


The first time I killed a man, I was 7 years old. Our train had been overtaken by a band of theives on our way to the city from our summer home. My mother was killed first, her head I remember landed in my older sister's lap and she screamed, the men had seemed delighted with it all and had left us to our mother's bleeding body, not thinking we would actually be able to move after the shock. I can still remember the incident as if it were yesterday.

"Kaoru, run now! Please!"

The older woman yelled at the little girl, barely 8 summers old. Her long black hair was whipping everywhere in the wind outside of the carriage. Kaoru shut her eyes tight for one second and jumped. Landing in a tight roll she flew through the dusty ground of the valley floor. The bandits hadn't noticed her yet. She hit the ground hard and the wind was knocked from her chest, desperately she coughed and tried to draw in breath before she slowed her momentum.

"Kaoru!"

Her voice tore through the clearing and the little girl was already up and running to find a place to hide, she was so slight, no bigger than 2 feet high for one so young and she slipped un noticed beneath the now stationary train. Gunfire echoed all around her and she flinched with each scream as passengers were taken from the train, looted and then shot. There was a tussle directly in front of her as her father fought off a few of the men. Gunshots were exchanged, blood spattered across the bridge of Kaoru's nose and she whimpered as her father and the men he had been fighting all went down, and stayed down.

"Daddy" she whined miserably from her hiding spot.

A sudden burst of anger had her red faced and yelling as she jumped out from beneath the train and grabbed her father's gun off the ground near his hand.

"Oh Ho! What is this we have here?" A burly man stood over her, ignoring the signs of homicide in her childish face.

"You killed my daddy and mommy!" She raged at him pointing the gun at his head. He was so much larger then she was, but her arm remained steady on his forehead.

"You gonna shoot me little girl?" He laughed and the remaining members of his gang laughed with him. Kaoru's father and the conductor had taken out a lot of the men that had attacked.

The gun went off with a soul shattering charge; Kaoru toppled over backwards from the kickback and watched with wide tearless eyes as the bullet lodged itself directly between the leader's eyes. His mouth opened with a silent 'o' shape and then he crumpled dead to the ground. Kaoru breathed heavily, trying to pick herself up. In that moment she felt a hundred years old and she shuddered, but forced herself to watch the blood well up between his eyes and out of his nose. The gun fell from lifeless fingertips and she stared in horror as the men all ran. A police siren could be heard in the near distance. Kaoru then allowed herself to cry.

The alley where I had been hiding out in suddenly came back into view, and I blinked the memories from my eyes. I heard a shout somewhere to my right and with a kick of adrenaline I shot off into the dark of the city streets; my target was on the move. My glock was cocked and ready to fire the moment I had a chance of a clear shot. The target was a young man, not much taller than me, I had his description stuffed into the side of my boot and the rest of his life history tucked into the inside pocket of my long coat.

"Misao, do you hear me?" I thought softly in my mind.

"Hiya boss, loud and clear on this end."

The cheerful mental voice of my best friend strained through the telepathic waves and I was relieved momentarily. Misao had been with me for as long as I could remember, when the orphanage had disagreed with the both of us after our parents had been under the train attack together we had made a pact with one another to get stronger and get revenge. The next night we'd packed up and left town. I was 9 she had just turned 8. We were homeless for about a year; I turned 10 on the streets and then we were saved as I call it. Saved by a great old man who accepted us in and trained us up to be all powerful as Misao likes to exaggerate about our past sometimes.

Early on Okina had realized our telepathic potential and had sent for specialists all over the country to train us. We were his 'special girls' he'd say to us. As we got older we came to learn that he really mean that we were his special girls alright, his special assassins. Shadow Maidens was what the public called us over the years, we were unknowns, slipping in, doing the job and slipping out again, and we never left evidence. Misao had taken to more of ninja training and her mental abilities had begun to specialize early on in telepathic and commandeering abilities, she could control one through her thoughts. My own talents were late in making an appearance and it had taken a close call to being raped to have them come out full force. I was a psychic yes, a telekinetic and pyrokinetic at that. My power was chartless, the doctors told Okina and they had given him advice before taking his money and handing me back to him. 'Don't make her mad' they had told him. I still laugh over it sometimes.

"Mii-love, I'm moving in now. On my count, he's the blue jacket turning the corner now. You'll see him. Get ready to move." I thought quietly to Misao through our own connected line.

Psychics could pick up on other channels if the ones using the channel weren't careful and we had been trained to be expert at all levels of communication and joint attacks. In the more recent past years of our careers as international killing machines (another inside joke courtesy of Misao) there had been bigger rivaling psychic assassins making debuts, none had topped our counts and talents yet, but a select few had begun to get closer to us. There were such out there known as the Oniwabanshu, the Hitokiri Battousai, Zanza and the Tokyo Samurai. Most of the time, we read the reports, it seemed as if these four were a group that worked together, like Misao and myself.

'Who cares' I thought airily to myself. We held the numbers and the respect around these parts of the country, which cares if they were making a name for themselves in Timbuktu or somewhere more obscure.

'Mi-love, now.' I whispered in my best friend's mind. My finger cocked on the trigger even before I leapt off the roof of the building I had been watching from.

'Right-o boss'

The attack was swift, the man was dead and the shadows had swallowed Kaoru once more as she left the area of her scene. Misao was already retreating up a building's side. Kaoru scanned the area, wiping nay evidence she could see away with her mind. Not even a hint of a trail was left when she allowed her face to pull into the semi solid darkness she had created in the alley they had staked out in.

'C'mon Kao-chan, I need a bath and a good sleep.' Misao cheered happily in her mind. While the deaths of Kaoru's victims never haunted her sleep or her subconscious, she could never understand how Misao could be so open and peppy after taking someone's life.

"I wanted to go out tonight Misao. We've been cooped up in the Aoiya for far too long and that headache of mine hasn't gone away in a few days. I'm not broadcasting I know that so it can't be a tail, but still, I think we should go see Megumi-san tomorrow morning."

Kaoru sighed contentedly as the two of them walked companionably down the main party streets of Tokyo. The night clubs were Kaoru's favorite, she slept in most all of the day, finding herself more comfortable in the darkness than in the light. She had always joked when they were younger saying she wasn't a maiden, she was a vampire. Misao had often called her 'Batgirl' ass a joke and the nickname along with more unfriendly ones like the one Megumi had given her way back when they had first met, Tanuki was not something Kaoru liked being compared to, but her pale skin and wide blue eyes were something to resemble raccoon rings around her eyes sometimes especially when she was pulling a triple shift at the record store where she worked on her non-killing days.

"Can we stop in at Tae's? I want to see Tsubame-chan and see how Sou-chan is doing!" Misao bounced up and down happily as Tae's Place came into view. The club was a big hangout for psychics and other nightly guests that Kaoru had been dealing with since that day of the train attack.

"Sou-chan is fine, we were here last night. Just because he was fatigued doesn't mean he was dying Misao-chan. He's a vampire more resilient than most people y'know." Kaoru was amused.

"Yea I know, but I feel bad. It was our fault he hadn't eaten; he was too polite to ask for our blood."

"Misao-chan even if he had asked you know we couldn't have helped him. Vampires just cannot drink psychic blood; it warps their minds and burns them from the inside out. Besides we don't need to be vampires, we can regenerate just as fast as they can and we can live for centuries if our gifts are controlled and in our own hands." Kaoru recited the worn knowledge from habit.

Misao needed this reminder quite often. She had begun noticing when they had first taken the younger boy into their little gang. Soujiro had been a fighter before they had all met. Misao had found him, sliced up unconscious in an alley almost four years ago. Kaoru had warned her not to bring home strays as it were Okina was strained enough, with the amount of work they were acquiring and running his weapons shop and other dealings that Kaoru had only just begun taking over as she had turned 16. Misao had disregarded this warning an had turned up in the rain with a sickly vampire under over her shoulder. Soujiro had explained that his coven had been destroyed in an age long battle and he had gotten out just in time. He had fallen for Misao and her bubbliness very quickly and he'd been around ever since, setting himself up comfortably in a room at Okina's home nicknamed "The Aoiya" and he'd started getting jobs of his own from some of the men Okina did business with, he was more content though to run the store front and gather helpful information that helped Kaoru and Misao on their nightly hunts. Kaoru shook off her memories as they stepped inside the loud pounding music that was Tae's Place, Tae herself was standing behind the old familiar bar that had served Kaoru as a bed on more than one occasion.

"Kaoru-chan! Misao-chan! It's wonderful to see you. I'll get you yours in a moment."

Tae chirped happily as she bustled about behind the wood top. Glasses could be heard clinking beneath the booming of the room bass as the DJ spun the next song and the crowd continued to move in wild selfless patterns on the expansive dance floor. Kaoru wasn't interested really in dancing tonight, just getting something warm in her stomach and talking to Tae about maybe letting her work tonight.

"Kaoru if you want, go see Soujiro-san and then you can take over the last night shift, Tsubame doesn't like working the bar very much, and she's much more content to be u in the DJ booth away from the people." Tae chuckled at Kaoru's smiling face.

Sometimes it was hard to remember Tae was a fiendish little telepath and that she read auras and ki more than thoughts. Emotion roiled in Tae more than physical thoughts did, but she was extremely insightful when it came to her girls, namely Kaoru, Misao and Tsubame.

"Thanks a lot Tae-san. Misao already went ahead upstairs."

Kaoru said rather guiltily at not being able to keep her best friend under control for longer than a minute.

"Ha-ha, that's alright Koaru-chan go ahead upstairs. The passkey is still the same."

Tae bustled off down to the other end of the bar to help some laughing customers. Kaoru spun once on her barstool tilting the last of her lovely vodka rocks down her throat before standing to go after Misao. A glint of something caught the side of her peripheral vision. She turned to see something crimson get lost in the throng of dancers.

'Red hair maybe?'

She pondered in her more private thoughts section, the area of her mind where her walls were too thick for someone to read through. Each psychic had this little niche in their minds, so as to not broadcast small thoughts all the time. It would eventually drive them and anyone listening around them insane, the niche wasn't really called anything and Kaoru just knew she'd always had it. Psychics in general supposed that it was a brain thing and something they wouldn't understand really.

The top of the hidden staircase loomed ahead of Kaoru, and she could already hear Misao's laughter and Soujiro's rumbling voice from beyond the wood grain. She accessed the code pad and punched in the 6 digit number. The door swung open silently, and the minute it closed the pulsing of the obnoxious club music disappeared along with Kaoru's headache from all the music and rampant thoughts. That was the only thing she didn't like about dance clubs even though they were the most fun to be in. Most psychics or supernatural beings once they got a little liquor in them, winded down and broadcasted plenty of unneeded images and thoughts and in such a confined space, it was easy to draw in other unwanted channels in one's mind.

"Misao, Sou-chan what are you doing?" Kaoru laughed as she walked in to seeing Misao hanging in midair taunting a bedridden Soujiro with his plushy black cat toy.

"Misao please! Button never did anything to you! Give her back to me!" He yelled rather indignantly, his fangs flashed in annoyance at Misao's laughing face, her long braid was hanging down dangling in Soujiro's face and he grabbed it and tugged. Misao toppled out of midair and with a squawk she landed splayed out across Soujiro's torso and embarrassed face.

"Hahaha, Soujiro used my braid against me. That was no fair Sou-chan!" Misao laughed as she handed the Button cat back to the boy.

"Sou-chan still sleeps with that old thing?" Kaoru asked sitting down at the desk in the corner.

Soujiro had taken to Tae's place a few weeks ago. They'd been out hunting when they were attacked by a few bandits who had recognized them for the shadows they were and who held a grudge against them for killing some member of their little bad. Kaoru had taken them out easily, but Soujiro had been fatigued from traveling in the daylight all day and had fallen easy victim to a knife in the stomach. Misao and Kaoru couldn't offer him blood because of their second natures and so they'd had to drag him back into town and to Tae's which was closer, he'd of been better in only a few days, but he'd come down with a high dangerous fever and they'd had to call Megumi in. Soujiro had always been a sickly boy and he was more susceptible to falling ill and getting hurt. Kaoru had felt guilty and Misao had tried to cheer them all up. Now Soujiro just stayed at Tae's slowly recovering and helping out when he could.

"Sou-chan it's ok, you know we don't care if you like...stuffed animals!" Misao giggled insanely as Soujiro hit her in the face with a pillow, an angry pout on his face made Kaoru laugh at both of them.


End file.
